


Letters

by andnowsomeonenew



Category: Holby City
Genre: F/F, letters are important y'all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-27
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-18 05:01:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 5,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8149951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andnowsomeonenew/pseuds/andnowsomeonenew
Summary: Because this fandom needs it's 5000th Letters fic to get us through the pain that will start tonight.Letters two ways





	1. I

6 days. 6 bloody days since Bernie Wolfe had left Holby, left her, in a storm of sapphic angst, silent arguments, and two breaking hearts. She'd laid her heart on the line and whilst it hadn't been rejected, it hadn't been accepted either. Bernie had promised to court her properly once she returned if that was still what they both wanted. They were supposed to use the time to use the 14 weeks to assess their feelings. Bullshit to that. Serena finally knew what she wanted and it wasn't time or distance. It was 5'8" tall, blonde, beautiful, ridiculous, and most definitely female.

She hadn't realised how scared Bernie was, so lost in her own confusion was she. She understood why Bernie left but it didn't stop her heart from aching.

She looked down at the envelope in her hands, it had been propped against her computer monitor when she walked in this morning, the handwriting unmistakable-precise yet inexplicably messy, just like the woman in belonged to. She couldn't work out who was working with Bernie to place it there but she thought she should probably thank them. Or hit them. It really depended on what the contents said. It had been 15 minutes since she'd first picked it up and had yet to muster the courage to open it.

Screw it!

Tearing open the top she was surprised when a small slip of paper was all that fell out.

 

_1/8_

_I is for Incredible. I is for Intelligence._

_Serena,_

_You are the most incredible woman I have ever met. I find myself stopped still sometimes just watching you work. The way you are with the patients and with our friends and colleagues is amazing. You held the hospital in the palm of your hand but you gave it up to care for Jason and the people you treat. Jason. I couldn't do what you did, taking him in when you were so lost. You are the best thing that ever happened to him, and to me._

_I envy your intelligence. Not just your academic intelligence, though that it truly astounding. Harvard Serena. Really? Way to put the rest of us to shame. The intelligence in how to talk to people, how you persuade others to do what it right. I've never met anyone who can talk sense into me like you can. Perhaps it's because I care what you think more than anyone else._

_I adore you._

_I'll see you in 8 weeks._

_Bernie._

 

 

  
Well then.


	2. Y

Serena treasured the note. If anyone asked she wouldn’t have admitted that she’d had any sort of contact from the blonde, the note felt too personal, and too mysteriously appearing, to share with her colleagues. She’d kept it in her desk for the first few days, then in her purse, and was currently residing in her bedside cabinet for her to read before she fell asleep. At this moment it was likely her most prized possession, the only tangible evidence of what had been shared between the two women. Oh sure there were pictures of the pair of them on trips to Albie’s but they were usually group photos or the pair were successfully hiding the growing attraction between them.

 

She hadn’t expected any further communications, though the 1/8 at the beginning of the note had filled her with some tentative hope.

 

The second note confused her. 6/8. What the bloody hell did that mean? Exactly one week after the receiving of the first note, she’d walked into her office to find an identical envelope propped against the picture of Eleanor and Jason she so treasured.

 

 

_6/8 Y is for Young_

_I wish I'd known you when we were younger. You've been through so much and I wish I could have been there every step of the way to hold your hand._

_I wish I could knock Edwards block off when he reappeared in your life. I wish I could have met your mother, she sounded like a lovely woman and I know how much you love and miss her, I wish I could have been there to hug you during her Alzheimer's and tell you it's going to be alright in the long run and remind you that she love you very much. I wish I could have been there to help you when Jason first entered your life, you two are so close and you are so wonderful with him but I know you struggle at times, even if you rarely let anyone see it. I'm honoured whenever you allow me to help with him. He's delightful. Tell him I said hello. Or don't if you think that would confuse him too much. Did he tell you I wrote him a letter as well? I hope he isn't struggling, I was a part of his life and I left without much warning. I'm sorry if I upset him._

_Further back that those, I wish I could go back to see teenage Serena, before life beat you down. I wish we could have danced together in discos to 80s hits as we got drunk on whatever we could get our hands on. I wish I went to Harvard with you so I could protect you from the hurt you suffered there. I would wish you never had to suffer Edward but then you wouldn't have Ellie so I can't. I hope one day I have the chance to meet her._

_I've written these notes before I left the UK but I promise you that right now in your timeframe I will be missing you and regretting letting even more time slip through our fingers. I wish we had more time but then we wouldn't be who we are and where we are. I may be away right now and we parted on uncomfortable terms but I wouldn't change a single minute of our past._

_I adore you._

_Bernie x_

 

1, and Now 6. I, and now Y. What on earth was Bernie up to?


	3. V

Monday again. The past two Mondays had started with a note but she didn't know if that was a coincidence or deliberate, she didn't know what would be waiting for her once she settled st her session. She supposed there was only one way to find out.

Slipping into the office that already held so many happy memories of Bernie she scanned the room, trying to see if there was anything out of the ordinary, perhaps even a clue as to who it was that was leaving her the notes on the blondes behalf.

Nothing. Not a bloody thing. Not even a hastily written scribble on a scrunched up scrap of paper. Dropping heavily into her chair Serena allowed herself a moment of self pity l, hastily hollowed by self recrimination. 'Stupid stupid woman. Of course Bernie wouldn't follow a pattern. She couldn't be predictable if she tried.

She's come in earlier than normal in anticipation of reading the note and now found she had time on her hands. What to do? Even she wasn't crazy enough to go out onto the ward and start early, it seemed calm out there and she wasn't about to interrupt that. Remembering the crossword she'd begun work on over a month ago with Bernie she reached into her desk draw and gasped. There was a particularly envelope shaped item on top of the newspaper. Greedily she snatched it up and devoured the contents.

 

_4/8_

_V is for Visage and very very very sexy_

_  
God Serena where do I even begin to start?_

_From the very first moment I set eyes on you from actoss the car park I thought you were the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. It wasn't the time you think it is, it was rarer in the day when I arrived at the hospital. I never told you you this but i spent many minutes watching you from the stairwell after I went back in. Sorry that's a bit creepy isn't it._

_There are several things that have left me speechless in my life-seeing my children's faces for the first time, being handed my first command, and your butt chin. Christ Serena it's perfect, I know you hate it because of the bullying you suffered at school but I find myself staring st it, imagining running my tongue down it, it dripping with my juices, and being jolted back to reality by a curious look or a witty comment by you._

_You've often said that people say you have you have the haircut of a middle aged lesbian and that's why that Harry Trsessler guy thought you were gay. I guess he was half right, I hope he'll still be half right when I return but I understand if he isn't. I don't want to ruin our friendship, I care about you so much. The symptoms aren't just confined to you though._

_I was talking about your hair though wasn't I? It's glorious. I just want to run my fingers through it, I want to wake up next to you to see your hair sticking up in all directions thanks to a night of me grabbing, pulling, and tangling my fingers in it. I've seen pictures of you with longer hair, down around your ears, and it just isn't you. Not like the almost pixie cut you have now. I will admit to having a weakness for the photos of you when your hair was around your shoulders though. I wonder what you'd look like blonde. My sister and I are both natural brunettes but I can't remember the last time either of us weren't blonde. Our mother would have tried to kill us if we'd dyed it as teenagers. Not that she was one to talk of course, i actually don't know what her natural hair colour is. My entire childhood she fluctuated between being a redhead and a blonde. She's grey now but even that was a recent thing. She's not vain by any shot, ooh another V word. Did I ever tell you about my mother? She has 4 phds, 3 masters degrees and a bachelors. She's a medical doctor as well. She couldn't care less about what people think of her. I respect that._

_If eyes are the windows to the soul then you must have the most beautiful soul in the universe._

_Your nose is precious._

_I could stare at your lips all day. I could kiss them all day too. Do you think Hanssen would allow us to change our job descriptions to say that? If anyone could do it'd be you._

_I imagine your figure is amazing, you hide it a lot under your floaty shirts but I can tell that you are a goddess beneath them. I'm not talking about all perfect and toned and blemish free. That'd be boring and unrealistic. I imagine you would be soft in all the right places, I wonder if you still have stretch marks from carrying Eleanor? Did you have a caesarean? Have you ever had your appendix out? There's so much I don't know about you and I would love it if one day I'd be given the opportunity to find out. I have horrible scars from my time in the army, being blown up by an IED certainly didn't help. You should see the chest scar I have._

_Basically what I'm rambling on about here is the fact that you Serena Campbell are beautiful. I know you struggle to believe it but you are._

_I adore you._

_Bernie x_


	4. O

Serena had buried the third note deep within her bag. She couldn't bring herself to put it in the bedside cabinet with the others, the content too precious to keep away separate from herself, the images suggested too risque.

She knew it was a risk. Jason had a tendency to rifle through her bag if he needed something and if it was knocked off the desk the note could fall out but she needed the reassurance of the most beautiful words she'd ever read to be near her and at hand.

Monday 4. Week 4. Letter 4. She still had no clue what the blonde was plotting but she couldn't wait to find out.

Yet again she found a note in their office, this time stuck to the drunken selfie they'd taken as Patsy and Eddie from Ab Fab after leaving the Italian restaurant the night before everything had come crashing down. She'd printed it in a fit of wallowing but couldn't keep it at home as it would lead Jason to ask too many questions she didn't have answers for.

 

_3/8_

_O is for Orange shirt_

_Have I ever told you how much I like your orange shirt? It's a good thing I do because you must wear it three times as often as every other piece of clothing you own, sure the black shirt with the white bits gets a semi-regular airing, and the blue floaty shirt is lovely, but the orange shirt is what does it for me. You look wonderful in it, it sums you up so perfectly, powerful and fierce yet playful at the same time._

_Every time I think about the orange shirt it makes me smile because I imagine_ _the adventures it must have had with you through the years. Remind me to tell you, when I return, about the dream I had about it. That is of you still want me to spend time with you._

__

_The person (no I'm not going to tell you who it is) who is leaving these notes on my behalf will stop if you want to. We're halfway through our separation now so I know you'll know if you want to stop this communication. All you need to do is leave a note on your desk on Friday or Saturday night saying as much. If you don't leave one then Monday will continue to be delivery day._

__

_I hope you're wearing that shirt right now. I can just imagine you sat there, curled up in on yourself, hand pressed to your mouth as you silently mouth the words you read. No, I'm not watching you so you can stop looking around, I've just spent a long time studying you._

__

_The memory of our second kiss mere feet from where you now sit, the neck of that shirt tangling in my fingers, will keep me going in the darkest of Ukrainian times._

__

_If you do decide to stop these communications then let me just say this one thing-I'm sorry for leaving like I did but if it helped you understand what you want then I cannot regret it. All I've ever wanted was you to be happy, even if it meant we both have to be heartbroken for a while._

__

_I adore you,_

__

_Bernie xx_

__


	5. L

She'd worn the orange shirt every day this week. People had begun to comment, wondering if she had come straight from a walk of shame or five. No number of different coloured vests, or even the uncharacteristic skirt she had paired the shirt with had worked to stop people wondering what exactly was going on. She didn't care. The fabric surrounding her was like a constant embrace from the blonde's words, from the blonde herself. It had been four weeks since she'd last seen her and four more to go. If this was how much she missed Bernie at the halfway mark she dreaded her reaction when she finally did see her again.

It felt like yesterday that Bernie had run out of the ward they ran, yet somehow an eternity since they had kissed in the office, had made plans for dinner that evening. She really had thought Bernie would stay then after they'd agreed to that date. In hindsight the 'quick bite' at the Italian restaurant after a long shift the night before had really been a date though neither of them had realised. At the time both women had been too busy enjoying themselves and thanking the powers that be for the reconciliation of their friendship.

Screw Berenice Wolfe and her confusing messages. Flirting, flirting, flirting, then bam 'I've accepted the secondment', then weekly love letters. If she wasn't already falling for Bernie she'd kill her with her bare hands. Bernie had better return with a great bottle of Shiraz and the world's biggest, soppiest apology.

Perhaps the next note would contain one? It certainly seemed shorter than the others.

 

_2/8_

_L is for Loquacious_

Yes _I know its a long word but we deal with long complicated words every day. Sometimes, when we're on the ward or in theatre, you'll say something terribly complicated and medical jargony and it's all I can do not to just stare at your lips, iI hear the same words most days but when you say them it's like they are in bold italic, like they have an extra dimension of importance because it is you who is speaking._

_You babble when you're nervous and I think it's adorable. As much as the first day back at work after our theatre kiss hurt like a bitch, watching you panic babble every time you saw me was actually quite sweet in retrospect. In a way I prefer it when we aren't speaking, the looks you send my way over a glass of shiraz in Albie's or across the ward send shivers down my spine. The words I can read in your eyes saying far more than your words ever can. I know I stare at you too, Cam realised how I felt about you long before I'd really accepted it for myself because I would stare at you. Can you read me as clearly as I can you? Marcus and Alex always used to say that I was unreadable in they didn't look into my eyes. How I managed to keep her a secret from him I don't know. I hope you can read me. I hope you could see how much I didn't want to leave for Ukraine, how much I wanted nothing more than you take you in my arms and promise to never leave._

_You can say so much with few words_ _and so little with many of them. I suppose that makes you human. I'm only human too. I was a coward for leaving like I did but I got scared when you implied you were falling in love with me. I'm a fuck up Serena. You deserve better than me yet I can't seem to let you go. You're in my veins (as corny as that sounds)._

_I may not be as loquacious as you are but I can say this with confidence. If you'll let me I will be_

_Always yours_

_Bernie x_


	6. U

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a M rated chapter so feel free to skip the actual letter and just read the Serena part.

 

I love you. God how stupid could she be. As soon as she'd laid out the alphabetical letters and their designations it had been as clear as if Bernie was standing there before her saying the words herself. I LOV- Y--. So much for the intelligent woman Bernie apparently thought she was, even Jason could have twigged what was going on before she did.

Bernie loved her. Berenice Griselda ' _I'm the most infuriating person you've ever met_ ' Wolfe loved her. She hadn't been sure Bernie even would be able to say it, the stiff upper lip of the army and the hurts she had suffered putting paid to the words yet there it was in black and white, in the scrawl she loved so much yet found so infuriating when it was on patient notes and nigh on illegible. Bernie loved her. She'd left so that they could properly understand their feelings yet Bernie had been confident enough in her love that she able to write such letters to her.

She had never been more in love with the blonde at that moment. And she had never missed her more. Jason had walked in on her crying in the back garden, and, finally, she had told him of the developing relationship she had with Major Wolfe. He took in his stride, Bernie was right-he really could take more than she thought. There was still so much he couldn't however and she wasn't naive enough to assume this was the end of the conversation. He missed her too apparently though he had reassured her that he was not in love with Bernie. His earnestness had made her laugh. How had she ever considered not taking him in. Just like with Bernie he had entered her life out of nowhere and turned it upside down. Two years ago she was a divorcee with a grown up daughter and an ailing mother. Now she had a son, for she was rapidly coming to love him as equally as Ellie, with a daughter who had become a fine young woman, and a Bernie.

The next three weeks were going to drag. She wondered what she would do when she saw the blonde again for the first time, she was still heartbroken at the way they had parted, and more than a little angry that Bernie had made the decisions for them again, but all she wanted to do was kiss Bernie and tell her flat out that she loved her,

She couldn't wait to see what the next letter would contain. She hadn't expected what she was about to read.

 

  
_8/8_

_U is for Undeniable Sexual Chemistry_

_Do you know how much I wanted to pin you against the wall of our office and drive you wild with my mouth._

_Just imagine it Serena, my hands all over your body, my lips trailing down your face, my teeth scraping down your neck, nipping at it, nibbling across your clavicle as my fingers scrape down your sides and under your shirt. Imagine hot wet kisses on your stomach, imagine my thigh pressing between yours as you buck against me, desperately seeking friction to take the edge off of the fire coiling inside you, driving you crazy._

_I would have made you so wet. Wetter than you have ever been in your life._

_Forget my thigh, I would be on my knees with my mouth pressed up against your lips, sucking and fucking your dripping pussy with my tongue, drawing your throbbing clit into my mouth as I made you moan and whimper with pleasure. There's nothing I want more to have my fingers in you, lapping up the juices that pour out of you._

_I want to leave bruises on your breasts and leave your rosebud nipples so raw that it hurts to wear your bra at work the next day. I want to see you hobble around the ward, aching from the night before._

_I want your lips on my clit. I want to show you what it's like to drive a woman crazy. How amazing it is to have the woman you love whimper and beg for release as you tease me to heights I've never known. I want you to fall apart at the thought of the pleasure I will inflict on you._

_I want to fuck you and be fucked by you. I want your name to be the one I scream in the shower and in the office when we have a spare half an hour and should be doing paperwork. I want to know your taste and taste my own on your lips._

_I want you Serena Campbell. You make me so fucking horny._

_I adore you and I will worship your body if you let me._

_Bernie x_

_p.s. Don't worry. The letter passer on is strictly forbidden from reading these._

 

Oh my goodness. Jason was definitely not seeing this one. And she was definitely rereading this one tonight.


	7. O

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit M rated in the Serena section here.
> 
> Just a short update this time because I worked the late shift at work and was too busy to write there but never fear, the next chapter is the final letter and the reunion so it should be longer.

Serena didn't know what to do with the last note she had received. No one could ever know about it's existence, no one could ever find out that it had brought her to orgasm several times in the last week. Thank heavens Jason had been visiting Alan else there would have been a lot of highly awkward questions as to why she was screaming Bernie's name as she ground down on her own hand. No one could ever know how wet she had gotten in the office when she was supposed to be doing paperwork but was instead plotting how to give Bernie a taste of her own medicine by bending her over the table, her bare arse on view for any passing colleagues to see, no one could know why she couldn't look anywhere in there without blushing. Nobody could know that is but Bernie. If she'd missed the blonde before it was nothing compared to how much she did now.

Damn that infernal woman and her way with words.

The dirty note had been a surprise certainly, quite unlike the other letters bar a passing reference in one a few weeks before. She didn't think she could handle another such missive, not with Jason back. Goodness, what was she going to do when he came back and Bernie came back?

She needn't have worried. The most recent note couldn't have been further from its immediate predecessor.

 

_7/8_

  
_O is for Octopus_

_Okay, I'll admit it, I struggled to think of another o word in the heat of the moment so octopus it will be._

_I hate them. Terrified of them in fact. No thing, no living being, should look like that, their eyes and their tentacles creep me out. It's the same with squid as well. Have you ever seen them when they're in those small tanks and they are all leggy and_ big-eyed _and they fill up the space like liquid? Just the thought is enough to send shudders down my spine. I've never told anyone that before. The kids didn't like them either so we always avoided that section when we visited aquariums and Marcus never needed to know. He hated that I was in the army but he liked that it made me strong. I'm not strong. I'm a coward._

_There aren't many things that scare me besides octopi but you're one of them. You are my best friend Serena, I've never really had a best friend before, I've never stayed in one place long enough without the pressure of the confinement the army gives you to cultivate any true friendships. I don't know what I would do without you, I suppose I'm about to find out for three months aren't I? I don't want to lose you and rushing into a relationship would lead to just that in the long run. I shouldn't have left like I did but I was scared by the intensity of us. We went from being so close to being so distant and we were only just making our way back to the friendship we had before and suddenly everything was so real and so important and I ran._

_I'm sorry. I'll do anything to make it up to you. I'll even go the octopus enclosure at the aquarium if you want._

_I adore you,_

_Bernie x_


	8. E

4 more days until Bernie returned. The final letter was in her hands. This was the last communication before they were reunited. Serena had barely slept in a week.

Bernie had written the letters before she had left 8 weeks ago, what if this seduction of words didn't represent how she now felt? What if Bernie had moved on? What if she hadn't? Was she soon to be in a relationship with the woman she loved and who, if the anagram was to be believed, loved her back?

She didn't want to open the letter straight away, she'd promised herself the night before that she would save it for later in the day. As she walked into the hospital, the sun beating sown on her back in an uncharacteristically warm day, her heart had been fighting her mind. Heart: open the letter and devour it. Mind: save it, you'll have less to wait between reading and seeing her.

Bernie had apparently had her own plans. This letter had the direct instruction to open upon finding scribbled across the front of it.

Serena couldn't wait.

_5/8_

_E is for eating_

_You know that meal at Leandro's was a date don't you? I didn't mean for it to be, I didn't try and trick you into going on a date with me, it just sort of turned into one._

_When does having a great time with your best friend over a delicious meal with good wine turn into a date? When you fall in love with said best friend and have to resist the urge to reach across the table and take their hand in yours and tangle your fingers together, when it kills you having to say goodnight to them in the taxi without so much as a peck on the cheek because you can't trust yourself not to pin them down into the settee and make love to them instead of getting drunker and playing Jason's video games like normal._

_That's when it becomes a date. I'd like to do it properly when we both know from the start that it's a date. When I'm not being a coward and running away from this. I'd like to take you out to a fancy restaurant, pull out your chair, gaze at you over candles (and try not to set myself on fire witht hem-remind me to tell you that story one time) whilst we wait for the food to arrive. I want to hold your hand and kiss your fingertips. I want to toast to us and not have to follow it up with bad news. I was to pay for our meals and take you home and kiss you on the doorstep, then kiss you in the bedroom as we make love._

_I'm sure by now you must have realised what my letters were spelling out. I'm no good with words in person but I hope these notes have managed to convey what I can't say out loud, face to face._

_I love you_ , _Serena Wendy Campbell._

_I have fallen head over heels in love with you. I love your intelligence, the way you are a sum of everything that has happened to you- good or bad, I love the way you look, I love your orange shirt and the way you have with words, I love our undeniable sexual chemistry and the things you do to me, I love that I trust you with my fears when I can't trust anyone else._

_I love you and I want to be your girlfriend._

_If you don't hate me, if you still want to pursue this, then join me._

_I'm on the roof_

_I love you,_

_Bernie x_

 

Thank god she hadn't waited until this evening to read it. Bernie would have thought she'd read it and decided to reject the proposal, reject her.

_Her._

Bernie was here.

Bernie was here!

* * *

  
She was certain Raf had never seen anyone run so desperately out of the ward, let alone careering into him and almost flattening him in the process.

The lift was taking too long to arrive. The stairs it would have to be.

She burst through the doors onto the roof and span around, desperately searching.

'I thought you weren't going to come.' The voice she'd missed so ardently spoke from directly behind her. Bernie was really here.

'Well, I did think about waiting and tormenting you.' She wouldn't turn around, not yet. She needed a moment to compose herself and if she saw Bernie too soon she feared she would collapse into tears.

'Yes, the fact you've clearly sprinted up several flights of stairs does seem to indicate that.' Bernie's voice was husky, her breath tickling the shell of Serena's ear. Finally, she spun around and laid eyes on the woman she loved for the first time in a month and a half.

'Hello.' She whispered, suppressing a wide grin as Bernie's eyes met hers.

'Hi.' Bernie whispered back.

'I missed you.'

'I missed you too.'

'You're back early?'

'I really wanted to see you and the team in Kiev can handle everything left. I couldn't wait another day to see you. You got my letters then?'

'I did.' Serena struggled for words, Bernie was even more beautiful than she had remembered and she was having trouble thinking straight. 'I don't like Octopi either for the record.'

'Good.' They both shuddered at the thought.

'If I'd known you were coming earlier I would have worn my orange shirt. People were starting to talk because I wore it so often since that letter. Jason staged an intervention and asked me if I was feeling alright. He's missed you too. Thank you for talking to him before you left.'

'I really do like that shirt, and I love Jason.' A comfortable silence fell over them, both content to enjoy the presence of each other, both acknowledging how wonderful it felt to have the missing puzzle piece of their heart standing before them, almost back in it's rightful place.

'You're an idiot.' Serena blurted out suddenly.

'I'm sorry?'

'In your last letter, the one you left for this morning-you thought I might hate you, that I wouldn't want to pursue us. You're an idiot.' She repeated, this time pairing it with an exasperated roll of her eyes.

'I am?'

'I could never hate you, believe me I've tried many time since we met but I just can't do it. How could anyone receive such wonderful letters and hate the writer? I received love letters from Bernie Wolfe! If you'd told me that a year ago I'd have laughed in your face.'

'I'm glad to have amused you so.'

'I want you Bernie. Please can we stop with the small talk and for the love of god, kiss me woman.'

'With pleasure.'

* * *

  
'This is the best date I could have ever dreamed of.' Serena grinned as she looked up at the woman she loved. He read was in Bernie's lap as the blonde ran her fingers through her hair and fed her bits of food.

'Serena it's the roof of where we work and it's cold cuts and salad. You deserve much better.'

'It's perfect because you are here and we are together. I love you Bernie.'

'I love you too Serena.' Bernie bent awkwardly to meet the brunette halfway and capture her lips in a tender kiss. They'd spent most of the last hour kissing but she knew she could never grow weary of it.

'How did you know the weather would be alright enough for this? 8 weeks is a lot of change meteorologically.'

'I wrote that last letter on the plane this morning and then passed it on when I slipped in.'

'Who was the letter leaver?'

'Hanssen.'

'Hanssen? Henrik Hanssen? Emotionless giant swede Henrik Hanssen?'

'The one and the same. It was one of the conditions of my accepting the secondment. He knew I was in love with you, apparently he saw it months ago and was surprised when i told him we'd only kissed for the first time a few weeks before. He says you have the day off of work as well, Ric will cover.'

'Remind me to buy them a present. Do you think Hanssen likes Shiraz?'

'I asked and he said no. Apparently keeping AAU running smoothly is enough of a thank you.'

'He's a romantic at heart.'

'Maybe we ask him for a threesome?'

'Berenice Griselda! It's a good thing I love you so much.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end. I might write a follow-up in the same universe some time but no current plans.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who commented and left kudos.
> 
> Love you all xx


End file.
